Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith reading the Bishop's decree (photo credit: Cary O'Keeffe)
In the summer of 2011 the Most Reverend Bishop Nicholas Samra, in anticipation of his enthronement as Bishop of Newton, asked Rev. Brendan McAnerney, OP if he would accept an appointment as Pastor of St. George Church in Sacramento, California. As a Dominican friar, Fr. Brendan had first to receive permission from His Prior Provincial, the Very Rev. Roberto Corral, OP. At a meeting in Oakland in late July he received that permission after which Bishop Nicholas and Fr. Roberto exchanged letters. On August 29, Bishop Nicholas wrote a Decree of Appointment, installing Fr. Brendan as Pastor effective October 17, 2011. The Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith, Protopresbyter for the Western region of the Eparchy, officially read the decree to the congregation on Sunday, November 6, 2011.
Fr. Brendan is a Dominican priest of the Western Dominican Province of the Holy Name of Jesus. He has enjoyed faculties to serve as a Greek Catholic priest since 1997, and has been in residence at St. George Church in Sacramento since 2001. He is an adjunct faculty member of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and has managed a ministry entitled DominICON, a ministry to Roman Catholic and Protestant parishes, schools and other Christian institutions to expand and enhance the appreciation of holy icons, sacred images in the Byzantine tradition.